Resveratrol may replace aspirin as heart protector

LAS VEGAS Researchers at the University of Connecticut may have found a substitute for aspirin in preventing heart attacks, according to a new study in the form of a compound in red wine.

Red wine’s cardiovascular benefits have been known for a long time, but the researchers found that when inducing heart attacks in animals, administering a molecule known as resveratrol significantly reduced damage to the heart’s muscles, and the animals survived.

“Resveratrol likely fulfills the definition of a pharmacological preconditioning compound and gives hope for the therapeutic promise of alternative medicine,” University of Connecticut School of Medicine researcher Dipak Das said in a statement.

Das found that while doses of 175 to 350 mg of resveratrol reduced damage to the heart, doses 10 times greater increased the area of damage. Meanwhile, the branded resveratrol pill Longevinex, made by Resveratrol Partners of Las Vegas, was found to afford the same level of protection at 100 mg. Still, the Web site for Longevinex says the Food and Drug Administration has not evaluated the pill’s health benefits.